Free Once a Pirate (Mystical Realm Series Book 1) by Sarah Snyder Page B

tunnel exited on the Ocean side of the castle, a steep rock cliff keeping them from the beach below. Jake found the steps he knew to be carved into the rocks and led Anna down to the sand, keeping a tight grip on her hand to prevent her from slipping on the unfamiliar stairs. Once they reached sand, Anna lifted her feet to remove the heeled shoes she wore, leaving them lay at the base of the staircase. The action left her standing at least a foot shorter than Jake’s six-foot-six-inch frame. Her smallness stirred Jake’s protective instincts and he removed his jacket to wrap it around her shoulders.
    “Thank you,” Anna smiled at the gesture, pulling the leather close.
    They walked the surf for a time, holding hands and enjoying the sounds of the Ocean. Jake stopped at a calm section of water, picking up a small stone and skipping it across the water. He felt a calm settle over him he hadn’t known in years. Jake tried to link it to his peace near the Ocean and the return of his lost possession, but as he looked down at the woman beside him, Jake wondered if she may hold some credit.
    “You never told me about your home and family,” Anna reminded, sitting on a rock just beyond the tide.
    “My ship is my home,” Jake joined her, sitting with his hip pressed to hers. “And, my crew is my family.”
    “And, before that,” Anna probed.
    “Before that, I lived just outside of Meridelle,” Jake answered. “A little town called Dellemore.”
    “And, your family,” Anna asked. “What were they like?”
    “My mother was beautiful; sweet, kind and loved everyone,” Jake spoke tenderly.
    “Was,” Anna looked concerned.
    “She died when I was a lad,” Jake admitted.
    “I’m sorry,” Anna laid her hand on his arm, keeping it on his flesh bared by the rolled up sleeves of his white shirt. “So, who cared for you?”
    “No one who deserves the title of family,” Jake stated.
    “Oh,” Anna mumbled, obviously a bit disconcerted at his coldness over the subject. She lifted her hand from his arm, but Jake covered it with his own, preventing the loss of her touch.
    “I’m sorry, Love,” Jake spoke softer than before. “I didn’t mean to be short.”
    “It’s okay, if you don’t want to talk about it,” Anna assured.
    “I was raised by my grandfather; my mother’s father,” Jake struggled to keep the hate from his voice. “He was a very cruel man.”
    “He was mean to you?” Anna asked.
    “Aye,” Jake admitted.
    “What did he do?” Anna prodded.
    “Things you wouldn’t care to hear,” Jake hedged.
    “Tell me.”
    Jake hesitated, staring out to the lapping waves of the Ocean. He never told anyone other than Sully what horrors his grandfather exposed him to, but for some reason Jake wanted Anna to know. “He was physically abusive,” Jake couldn’t look at her as he spoke refusing to see the pity he knew would be in her eyes. “The night I took off, he had too much liquor and pulled a knife, intending to slit my throat.”
    “Why?” Anna’s voice was breathless.
    “My grandfather was raised in a time of honor and tradition. When my unwed mother brought him a bastard grandson, he snapped. Before she died, my mother was the one at his mercy, but after she died,” Jake trailed off, his tone shaking with the anger and frustration he felt.
    “After she died there was no one to protect you,” Anna finished for him. “How old were you?”
    “Ten,” Jake answered.
    “So young,” Anna remarked. “And, there was no one who could help you? What about your father?”
    “My father wanted nothing to do with me since the moment my mother told him she was with child,” Jake spoke harshly of the man. “She wasn’t of a high enough standing for him.”
    “Surely, after she died,” Anna trailed off, but Jake knew her question.
    “He came when he heard,” Jake admitted. “He had my grandfather and I restrained while he went through her belongings, destroying everything which might damage